NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed suit Wednesday against 14 foreign exchange dealers it alleges were engaged in illegal currency trading.
The filings are the first flexing of new regulatory muscle afforded the agency under provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill and the 2008 Farm Bill that went into effect in October.
The suits allege that the firms illegally solicited members of the public to engage in foreign currency transactions, and that they operated without being registered with the CFTC.
The regulatory body filed the enforcement actions in Federal District Courts in Chicago, the District of Columbia, Kansas City and New York.
According to the CFTC, the complaints seek civil monetary penalties, as well as trading and registration bans.
The firms caught in the sweep:
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 12,454.83 | -74.92 | -0.60% |
| Nasdaq | 2,837.53 | -1.85 | -0.07% |
| S&P 500 | 1,317.82 | -2.86 | -0.22% |
| Treasuries | 1.74 | -0.01 | -0.80% |
| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 7.15 | 0.01 | 0.14% |
| Sprint Nextel Corp | 2.62 | 0.09 | 3.56% |
| Cisco Systems Inc | 16.33 | -0.06 | -0.37% |
| Chesapeake Energy Co... | 15.81 | 0.23 | 1.48% |
| Ford Motor Co | 10.60 | 0.01 | 0.09% |
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